1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for displaying information of a calling partner during call waiting in a portable wireless terminal, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for receiving and displaying information previously registered by a calling partner, in a message form, during call waiting.
2. Background of the Prior Art
As electronic and communication industries advance, portable wireless terminals are being more widely distributed, and functions of the terminals are being diversified to meet user's demands. Meanwhile, the terminals tend to be of smaller-size and more lightweight. Further, the emergence of a portable wireless terminal with a built-in digital camera allows desired objects to be easily captured and stored. Also, the captured images can be uploaded to a wireless Internet server and transmitted to other terminals.
In the portable wireless terminal, a Short Message Service (SMS) is widely used. Meanwhile, SMS is evolving into a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) to allow transmission of a message having an attached image. That is, while SMS could originally only transmit characters, it can now transmit a variety of images, such as photographs or animation.
In general, for an outgoing voice call, a calling party hears a call connection sound (music or voice message), which is stored by a called party, until a called terminal responds to the voice call and the call is actually connected. Here, the duration of time until the call is actually connected after the outgoing voice call is made will be referred to as a call waiting time, i.e. “call waiting”. At this point, the calling terminal counts and displays a call duration and the called terminal displays a caller ID. That is, although a voice service capable of expressing the called party's personality during the call waiting is supported, such display service is uniform and does not allow various demands of a user to be met. Further, since the called terminal can recognize the calling party only through caller ID, there is a demand for more varied display services.
That is, if a display service capable of expressing the calling partner's personality during the call waiting is supported, it may be an additional service comparable to the call connection sound. Specifically, such an additional service may be useful in cases such as when a called party cannot answer the phone because he or she is on urgent business, at an important meeting, absent, on vacation, on a business trip, or in the hospital. If such a situation can be determined through a call waiting screen, allowing wasted time due to the repetitive callings to be prevented. In addition, if a called party's emotion (i.e. angry, depressed, happy, etc.) can be known through the call waiting screen, the calling party can more adaptively cope with the called party's emotion during or when initiating a telephone conversation. Specifically, such a call waiting screen can be used as a medium through which the calling party can be reminded of birthdays, meeting places, etc. Further, it can be used as a medium for expressing delicate emotions to intimate friends can be expressed with characters, photographs, pictures, etc.
As described above, in conventional systems, the calling terminal in call waiting status will simply display the call duration, and the called terminal will display only the caller ID. Accordingly, both the calling terminal and the called terminal simply display only such basic information. The present invention allows for visual display of the calling partner's personality, like the call connection sound, during the call waiting.